I came home one day this week to discover the dog had been left outside which he doesn't like and tends to show his displeasure by barking which annoys the neighbours.
I was just sending a text to our dog walker asking her, politely but firmly, not to do this again when I discovered that somebody else had locked him out with some justification (he had been barking inside for some reason). Don't get me wrong - he is normally quite well behaved!
However I was really glad I had not sent the text. Our dog walker is excellent, very reliable and the dog really likes her. It made me think how easy it is to blame others when things go wrong. "Why didn't you check that document that went out with errors in it." "Who forgot to book a room and invited the wrong people to this meeting." "We should all have known about that aspect of the client's business before we gave the wrong advice."
As the 2016 Olympics finish in Rio today I found this really apt quote from the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho "It's always easy to blame others. You can spend your entire life blaming the world, but your successes or failures are entirely your own fault."
By contrast praise is so much harder to give or come by. As professionals we are, if we are honest, always prone to a little self doubt - it sort of goes with the territory - and we really appreciate and benefit from praise. However it isn't given very often in my experience.
Mark Twain said "I can live two months on a good compliment."
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796 said "I praise loudly. I blame softly".
What a great approach.
I was just sending a text to our dog walker asking her, politely but firmly, not to do this again when I discovered that somebody else had locked him out with some justification (he had been barking inside for some reason). Don't get me wrong - he is normally quite well behaved!
However I was really glad I had not sent the text. Our dog walker is excellent, very reliable and the dog really likes her. It made me think how easy it is to blame others when things go wrong. "Why didn't you check that document that went out with errors in it." "Who forgot to book a room and invited the wrong people to this meeting." "We should all have known about that aspect of the client's business before we gave the wrong advice."
As the 2016 Olympics finish in Rio today I found this really apt quote from the Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho "It's always easy to blame others. You can spend your entire life blaming the world, but your successes or failures are entirely your own fault."
By contrast praise is so much harder to give or come by. As professionals we are, if we are honest, always prone to a little self doubt - it sort of goes with the territory - and we really appreciate and benefit from praise. However it isn't given very often in my experience.
Mark Twain said "I can live two months on a good compliment."
Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796 said "I praise loudly. I blame softly".
What a great approach.
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